Transforming Conversion: Rethinking the Language and Contours of Christian Initiation
Overview
This volume offers much-needed contemporary theological reflection on the phenomenon of conversion and transformation. Gordon Smith provides a robust evaluation that covers the broad range of thinking about conversion across Christian traditions and addresses global contexts. Smith contends that both in the church and in discussions about contemporary mission, the language of conversion inherited from revivalism is inadequate in helping to navigate the questions that shape how we do church, how we approach faith formation, how evangelism is integrated into congregational life, and how we witness to the faith in non-Christian environments. We must rethink the nature of the church in light of how people actually come to faith in Christ. After drawing on ancient and pre-revivalist wisdom about conversion, Smith delineates the contours of conversion and Christian initiation for today’s church. He concludes with a discussion of the art of spiritual autobiography and what it means to be a congregation. Transforming Conversion will be useful in evangelism, spirituality, missions, ecclesiology, soteriology, and practical ministry courses. Pastors, church leaders, and thoughtful lay readers will also appreciate this book.
- Title: Transforming Conversion: Rethinking the Language and Contours of Christian Initiation
- Author: Gordon T. Smith
- Publisher: Baker Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2010
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Conversion › Christianity
- ISBNs: 9781441226648, 9780801032479, 1441226648, 0801032474
- Resource ID: LLS:TRNSFRMNGCNVRSN
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-04-12T19:17:42Z
Gordon T. Smith (PhD, Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University) is the president of Ambrose University and Seminary in Calgary, Alberta, where he also serves as professor of systematic and spiritual theology. He is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and a teaching fellow at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the author of many books, including Institutional Intelligence, Courage and Calling, Called to Be Saints, and Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal.
